The Biden administration sketched out an ambitious vision for improving the nation’s cybersecurity by changing the rules of the road for software and cloud vendors while rethinking how federal civilian agencies are defended in the National Cybersecurity Strategy released on Thursday morning.

The 35-page document calls on Congress to pass laws that put software vendors on the hook for the consequences of avoidable hacks while establishing a safe harbor framework for those companies whose products meet consensus standards for security development, shifting risks once assumed by users onto tech firms…

The strategy also looks to manage risks to critical infrastructure through increased cybersecurity requirements across industrial sectors. Officials on the press call noted the disparate levels of security requirements across sectors. The strategy calls for the federal government to tap existing authorities to “set necessary requirements in critical sectors,” and for Congress to pass legislation to close gaps in rulemaking authority.

“Information sharing and public-private partnerships are inadequate for the threats we face when we look at critical infrastructure,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters on the call… Read the full article here.